Radio host gets love, no 'muffins'

CARRBORO -- Radio host Stephanie Miller started her show at the ArtsCenter last week with a potentially deadly faux pas.
Five minutes before air time, Miller, casually dressed in blue jeans and a long-sleeve black T-shirt adorned with a stop sign on the front that read WAR, greeted the audience with "How ya doin', Chapel Hill?"

"Carrboro!" someone shouted back, to a round of applause and laughter.

It was all in fun, though. From start to finish, liberal radio host Miller's live appearance Friday morning, in front of about 270 WCHL listeners, was all love. If any of her "right-wing love muffins," as Miller likes to call her phone-in antagonists, were in attendance, they didn't let themselves be known.

Flanked by "voice monkey" Jim Ward, Miller went right to work lampooning President Bush's address to the nation the night before. Ward was a big hit with the audience, which finally had a chance to see him get into character physically. He squinted and tucked his lips when he imitated the president, donned glasses (and, again, squinted) when he did Donald Rumsfeld ("Do I expect to be rewarded with another shiny medal? You bet"), and crimped his neck and sneered when he did Sean Hannity.

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